Tips and Tools to Simplify Record Updating

Maintaining an updated and duplicate-free database is difficult. Because people consistently move addresses, change phone numbers and emails, and their family situation changes, there can be a lot of hands in your database trying to input information quickly and accurately.

As you prepare for the end of the school year, it’s a good time to work on cleaning your database (you’ll thank yourself when the next school year rolls around!) Luckily, FACTS has a whole host of tips and tools available to help you keep your database clean and updated.

If you’re a FACTS SIS user, a few reports exist that make data clean up simple:

Duplicate Person Error Check

When entering new students into your database, it’s not always clear if the student has existing family members at the school. Running the duplicate person error check in report manager is the best way to routinely make sure you aren’t creating duplicate records in FACTS SIS. The report will show you a list of everyone with a matching name at your school that could be a duplicate person.

  • Pro-Tip: Running the duplicate person error check monthly and right before enrollment can help cut down the administrative burden of working through a large list of errors.

Person/Family Cleanup

After identifying your duplicate records, RenWeb makes it easy to clean up and merge those records into one. From the database tasks screen under system, you will find a report called person family cleanup. On this screen, you have the ability to merge records together to create one final record. The record you will keep will be on the top filter; the record you will merge away will be in the bottom filter.

  • Pro-Tip: Before merging, make sure to research and write down the individuals you are wanting to merge. As a best practice, writing down the FACTS SIS IDs can help you quickly search for the person(s) you will be merging. This tactic can also help you remember which record you are keeping and which one will be going away. **A merge cannot be undone once performed**

Admissions

Online Application and Enrollment provides you with a tool to make sure that duplicate families are not being created when importing new students into FACTS SIS. We call this the synchronization step. During the process of importing a new student, it is possible to tie a new student into an existing family. You can also tie that Online Application family into the records that already exist in the SIS. The most common example of this is a new student that is a sibling to an existing student.

  • Pro-Tip: If you work at a large school, it’s a good practice to do a name search in the sync before importing an application. You could also include a question in the application to ask if they have a sibling that has ever attended your school.

If you’re a FACTS user, consider trying these tips to keep your system clean and manageable:

Tuition Payment Plan Tips

  • If a student has withdrawn from the school, change the balance to $0 and terminate the agreement to keep cash flow projections and other reports accurate.
  • When entering transactions, the best business practice is to start with the gross tuition amount due and then enter any credits the family/student receives.
  • Communicate regularly with your delinquent families and make payment arrangements for unresolved balances before the end of the year.

Grant & Aid Assessment Tips

  • If you have not done so, please send your 2018-2019 tuition rates to your Account Manager team to ensure your Grant & Aid calculations are correct.
  • To keep track of all financial aid in a single system, consider looking into the “Manual Awards” feature so you can enter in scholarships, merit-based awards, or emergency-based funds for families that don’t need to fill out an application.

We’re here to help make your day-to-day operations easier and more efficient. If you have any questions about best practices or keeping your data clean, don’t hesitate to contact your FACTS Account Manager team at 866.412.4637.